{"id":10248,"date":"2007-10-08T15:05:06","date_gmt":"2007-10-08T20:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=10248"},"modified":"2011-08-08T15:05:36","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T20:05:36","slug":"5866","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/10\/08\/5866\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Planting an Effective Evangelistic Outreach"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (October 8, 2007) \u2013 Leaders in the Evangelical Covenant Church say an article in the current issue of Christianity Today<\/a><\/em> confirms the importance of the denomination\u2019s commitment to church planting and the dedication of its church planters.<\/p>\n

In the article, \u201cGo and Plant Churches of All Peoples,\u201d writer Tim Stafford reports that denominations increasingly are turning to church planting as the most effective evangelistic outreach. The Covenant is not mentioned in the articles.<\/p>\n

The Covenant has been at the forefront of this new move, however, Covenant leaders say. \u201cWe’ve understood the importance of church planting for reaching more people for a long time,\u201d says Gary Walter, executive minister of the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism. \u201cIt is no coincidence that our rapid growth coincides to a recommitment to church planting in the 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford writes that church plants also are targeting an increasingly ethnic and post-Christian population, a trend mirrored by the Covenant. David Ripley, the leader of ethnic ministries at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois, is quoted as saying, \u201cIf we are challenging people to reach their neighbors, the reality is that the neighborhood is changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch planting has spurred our ethnic diversity since about half of those new churches have been ethnic or multiethnic,\u201d Walter says. \u201cIt’s also helped us reach into the emerging generations. So, with church planting as a key driver, the ECC is growing numerically, growing more diverse, and growing younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stafford also maintains the United States is caught between an increasingly broadening gap of values. \u201cDespite what some say, the United States is not a post-Christian nation. It\u2019s more half Christian and half post-Christian, trying to make up its mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Olson, the Covenant’s director of church planting, says people considered post-Christian people don\u2019t necessarily accept traditional Christian values as valid.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not so much that they\u2019re anti-Christian as they\u2019re not wanting to engage with the Christian culture,\u201d adds Ron Short, pastor of Lakehills Covenant Church in El Dorado Hills, California. That means new church plants have to work harder at developing relationships with the community.<\/p>\n

The percentage of the post-Christian population varies dependent on region. \u201cIt\u2019s not like Seattle, Minnesota, and Kansas City are the same,\u201d Olson says. \u201cThe closer you are to salt water the more likely you are to be post-Christian.\u201d He adds that urban Anglos also tend to have a more post-Christian mindset than suburban Anglos.<\/p>\n

Olson does believe a change is continuing to take place. \u201cAmerica is in a transition from being mostly Christian to post-Christian,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

That transition already has occurred in the Pacific Southwest Conference, says Associate Superintendent Greg Yee. He notes a widely recognized landmark study by Olson that says only 14 percent of Californians attend church on any given Sunday.<\/p>\n

Yee says it is important to look at church planting as more than a strategy. Rather, it also is a means of \u201cletting apostolic pastors do their thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planters often have had to make sacrifices that others don\u2019t, Yee says. \u201cThey work two jobs while planting a church. They do Bible studies at midnight because that\u2019s what\u2019s best for some of their people. They actually put their family at some very real risk in challenging neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenges facing denominations is not choosing between established churches and plants, however. Strong relationships are beneficial for both. In the February 2006 issue of The Covenant Companion<\/em>, Olson wrote, \u201cThere is a synergy between church planting and healthy, growing established congregations. My research has shown that denominations that effectively plant new churches have much healthier established churches and creative ministry energy flows back and forth between them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO, IL (October 8, 2007) \u2013 Leaders in the Evangelical Covenant Church say an article in the current issue of Christianity Today confirms the importance of the denomination\u2019s commitment to church planting and the dedication of its church planters. 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